The Darkness of Old; The Ancient Crown; The Winged One Read online

  The Second Dragon War Arc (Books 7-9)

  The Half Dragon of Yaerna

  by Hans Bezdek

  Copyright © 2019 Herrin Enterprises LLC

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The Arcane Staff Trilogy:

  The Elf Thief (Book 1)

  Released April 2018

  Lost Citadel (Book 2)

  Released May 2018

  Final Barrier (Book 3)

  Released June 2018

  The Half Dragon of Yaerna Series:

  Tumbler Short

  The Ilkas Diamond Job (Book 0)

  Released February 2018

  The Gathering Arc

  The Shattered Sword (Book 1)

  Released December 2017

  The Time Shield (Book 2)

  Released January 2018

  Grimkell's Mace (Book 3)

  Released January 2018

  The Heralding Arc

  Durnskeep (Book 4)

  Released March 2018

  Ravendale (Book 5)

  Released July 2018

  Aelric (Book 6)

  Released July 2018

  Second Dragon War Arc

  Darkness of Old (Book 7)

  Released August 2018

  The Ancient Crown (Book 8)

  Released November 2018

  The Winged One (Book 9)

  Released December 2018

  For a FREE copy of the prequel novella The Half Dragon of Yaerna: The Ilkas Diamond come subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/dfZmfP

  Feel free to reach out to me with questions or comments at [email protected]

  Table of Contents

  The Darkness of Old (Book 7)

  The Ancient Crown (Book 8)

  The Winged One (Book 9)

  The Darkness of Old

  Book 7

  Chapter 1

  “Oi, it ain’t funny!” shouted Braun as he struggled back to his feet.

  We had just arrived in Ilkas, a town in the north of Truska. It was the last stop on our journey to Durnskeep, where we would hear from the Great Oracle about what was to come next. While war was on the horizon, we were doing our best to keep our spirits up. Witnessing the dark form of Braun fall off his horse, arms flailing, certainly helped.

  “Maybe you should invest in buying a smaller horse next time,” I offered with a grin. “Maybe a pony?”

  “Maha!”

  “Everytime me other side takes over, ye loonies lose the horses!” cried Braun. “It ain’t worth the coin!”

  “We do seem to get separated from our mounts pretty frequently,” acknowledged Cassandra.

  “It’s not like we try to,” I explained to the dwarf while I tied our horses up next to the stable. “We have a way of running into trouble. You know that.”

  “Aye,” conceded the dwarf, crossing his arms. “Not since the battle at the Palace, though. Been boring riding up here.”

  “Surprisingly boring,” agreed Dhot.

  They were right. Our journey up from Aelric had not been nearly as eventful as I expected it to be. Cassandra led us to an elven border town that sold us some horses, and then we shot straight north through Truska. Greeners loved to hang around this territory and mug travelers, but we didn’t see a single goblin besides Dhot. We hadn’t even come across regular bandits! It was like all of Yaerna was lying in wait at what was coming…

  “Perhaps after the Greeners defeat at the Palace word got around,” offered Cassandra. “Maybe other Greeners decided to lay low for a bit.”

  “Or Ulrich could have sent out a message for all the Greeners to come to him,” I pondered, leading them away from the stable and into the town itself. “There’s no way he was happy with Queen Dedra making it out of that battle alive. He could be gathering more forces together to make sure the next attack is a success.”

  “Surely he’d see that working with them green folk are a waste of time,” said Braun, casting a glance at Dhot. “Present company excluded.”

  Dhot nodded his thanks.

  It was evening by the time we made it to town, the sun barely visible in the west. This was prime time for the people in Ilkas, who mostly worked during the days but didn’t stay out too late after dark. Nearly all the races were represented here, even more diverse than Durnskeep was. Vendors of all shapes and sizes were trying desperately to catch someone’s eye, and thankfully my group was smart enough to keep their eyes on the ground or straight ahead.

  The wide, spread out town didn’t have much going for it looks wise, no skyscrapers or buildings more than two or three stories tall. Thankfully, we hadn’t come here for the sightseeing. If I remembered correctly, there were a few inns downtown that were reasonably priced. One of the benefits of the town not being a great tourist destination.

  “There’s a lot of people here,” said Dhot. “Feels weird after a few days of only seeing the three of you.”

  “I prefer the quiet,” said Cassandra.

  “Same here,” I nodded. “I’ve never been a huge fan of Ilkas. All these crowds, but nothing too exciting ever going on. Well, except for the last time I was here.”

  “What happened last time?” asked Cassandra.

  “Oh, have I not told you guys?” I laughed. “It was actually my last job with the Tumblers.”

  “Musta failed pretty bad then, eh?” asked Braun.

  “N-No!” I scowled. “I pulled off the job no problem! Well… maybe not no problem… either way, I quit on my own accord.”

  “What did they have you do here?” asked Dhot.

  I glanced around to make sure no one was following us or paying too much attention. While it had been years now, I wasn’t sure what the statute of limitations was in this area. I had a feeling they’d still lock up the person that did it.

  “They used to have a diamond here that was a big deal,” I explained after seeing the coast was clear. “The thing was worth a pretty penny on the black market, especially since it was so well guarded.”

  “How much did you get for it?” asked Dhot, tapping his fingers together in excitement.

  “Wasn’t my job to sell it, just to steal it,” I said, shaking my head. “Besides, I was a lieutenant at the time. Dmetri wouldn’t waste my time on selling something.”

  “How’d you do it?” asked Cassandra.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I smirked.

  “Yes…” she said, shaking her head. “That’s why I asked.”

  Oh. Right.

  “I don’t want to get too detailed right now, but it involved casing the bank out and working with a backstabbing…”

  The others gestured for me to keep going, but I ignored them. Down the street, my eyes fell on a man dressed in black and white pretending to be stuck in a small invisible box. A small crowd was gathering around him, a few people even throwing some change into a hat. After all this time, he was still doing this schtick…

  “So someone betrayed you?” clarified Cassandra.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I nodded, waving for them to follow me. “Let’s go watch this mime.”

  “Another mime?!” exclaimed Braun. “Do all these blasted towns south of me people have these silly men?”

  “It seems that way,” sighed Dhot. “I don’t really get the appeal.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Cassandra, narrowing her eyes at me. “You hate mimes. Like, really hate them.”

 
“I’m starting to come around on them,” I lied.

  “When did that change?” asked Dhot.

  “Uh, remember that elf mime back in Sheridan?” I said, trying to come up with something. “He voted to help us.”

  “Oh yeah!” laughed Dhot. “Maha! And after you verbally attacked him, too!”

  “I didn’t… nevermind,” I groaned, leading the rest to the man. Cassandra gave me a suspicious look, but my story had enough truth in it to convince her to come along.

  The four of us joined the crowd watching the mime. The man pretended to unlock the invisible box, stepped outside of it, then bowed. The crowd clapped as if he had either accomplished a great task or was actually entertaining. This town really needed something exciting if they thought this was a good use of time or, as I watched several more people toss quat into the hat, money.

  The mime nodded his thanks at everyone, smiling wide at everyone in the crowd. He gave a wink to several of the women, including Cassandra. The elf stared blankly back. The mime scanned over Dhot, Braun and then me.

  The mime did a double take, eyes wide the second time he looked at me.

  “Good to see you, Julian,” I smiled wickedly.

  “Y-You!” said Julian in his high pitched, squeaky voice.

  “I can see why he took to miming,” chuckled Braun.

  Several people groaned and complained at seeing the mime break character and speak, even if it was just one word. The crowd dispersed, several people shaking their head and casting Julian dirty looks. This confirmed in my mind the only people worse than a mime were onlookers that took their artform so seriously.

  “W-What are you doin here?!” asked Julian, his eyes about ready to shoot out of his head.

  “Just passing through with a few friends,” I said, maintaining my smile and gesturing at the others. “I was reminiscing on the good times I’ve had here when I saw you!”

  “A-Are they Tumblers, too?!” he squeaked, risking quickly glances at the others before snapping his eyes back to me.

  “Hardly,” laughed Braun. “Don’t need no pipsqueak gang tellin me what to do.”

  “We’ve met Reimar out while traveling,” explained Cassandra. She was trying to be polite, but I could tell she felt something strange was going on here. “How is it that you two met?”

  “W-We… W-We met…” stammered Julian, hesitating more as I shot him a death look and subtly shook my head. To be honest, I wouldn’t have cared that much if he told the others the truth, I just wanted to mess with him. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it. He had nearly been responsible for my death. “Er, we met at a pub?”

  “That’s right,” I said, turning back to the others. “We met over some drinks. It had been so long now I had almost completely forgotten!”

  “Uh huh,” said Cassandra, looking back and forth between Julian and me. She didn’t sound particularly convinced.

  “We should really get on our way, and I’m sure you’re busy,” I said, giving Julian a hard stare.

  “Y-Yep!” he squeaked picking up his hat of money and speed walking down a nearby alley. Before he disappeared he waved at us. “I-It was nice meeting you all!”

  “That was weird,” said Dhot as we watched the man break into a full out run right before he made it out of sight.

  “Aye,” nodded Braun.

  “He was always a kind of weird guy,” I smiled and shrugged.

  “I feel like there’s something you’re not telling us,” said Cassandra, squinting at me.

  “Ah, here’s the inn I was thinking of!” I said, pointing off to a building not far from us.

  “Whatever,” sighed Cassandra, following after me along with the others. “If there are things you don’t want to tell us about, that’s your prerogative.”

  “It’s really nothing,” I laughed. That was true, but it was fun keeping the bizarre circumstances of how I met Julian a secret. “Let’s get some nice sleep tonight, and maybe if you’re good tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the mime on the way to Durnskeep.”

  “How long will it take until we get to the city?” asked Dhot.

  “Less than half a day,” I shrugged. “Maybe a bit longer if we stop for breakfast or run into anything nasty.”

  “Seems like we’ve been avoiding everything so far on this trip,” said Cassandra. “Maybe our luck will keep up.”

  “Aye,” nodded Braun, opening the door to the inn. “Even if it don’t, I wouldn’t mind bashin a few skulls in meself. It’s not like we’re in a huge rush either way.”

  I didn’t know why, but as I followed the dwarf and the others through the door, something deep inside of me felt like he was wrong.

  Chapter 2

  I opened my eyes and found myself in a familiar room, windows all around that overlooked Durnskeep down below. For a moment I wondered how we made it to Durnskeep so quickly, then I remembered we were still at the inn in Ilkas trying to sleep. The last thing I had heard was Dhot’s loud snoring.

  “Really?” I moaned, taking a few steps forward and looking for the pesky old man. “Again with this? You know I don’t sleep well when you bring me here.”

  “I apologize for the inconvenience,” came a quiet voice.

  I spun around to see the Great Oracle making his grand entrance from behind me, as always. There was something off about him this time, but I couldn’t quite place it.

  “We’re in Ilkas right now,” I said, crossing my arms. “We’re literally less than a day away. This conversation couldn’t have waited until we were in person?”

  “I thought you’d like to have a private chat before seeing me with the others,” smiled the Great Oracle, his voice nearly a whisper.

  “Why are you talking so quietly?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  “Roxbury is sleeping,” explained the Great Oracle. “I’d prefer not to wake him.”

  “How do I get that same kind of privilege?” I asked. “Should I start wearing fancy clothes?”

  “Couldn’t hurt,” chuckled the man.

  I realized what was off about him. The Great Oracle’s eyes looked sunken and bloodshot, like he hadn’t been able to sleep for a couple of nights, or perhaps he had been crying. The man older than anyone or anything in all of Yaerna was starting to look his age.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, taking a step closer. “You seem kind of out of it.”

  “I’m fine,” he smiled. “I wanted to ask you how things went with Queen Dedra.”

  “Oh, right,” I nodded, happy to have the subject changed. I hated talking about feelings. If the Great Oracle had something going on, I doubted I’d be able to help him much. That’s why I never talked to other people about mine. Better to bury them deep down inside. Healthier that way. “When we talked with her, things went… poorly. She ordered her guards to kill us.”

  “I see,” said the Great Oracle grimly. “So you weren’t able to change her mind.”

  “Actually, we were!” I grinned. “Luckily, the Palace was attacked by Greeners!”

  The Great Oracle gave me a concerned look.

  “Okay, luckily might not have been the right word choice,” I shrugged. “Anyway, we were able to gather up a militia from the surrounding towns and fight the Greeners back. We saved the Queen and she agreed to work with us against the Dar’Ka.”

  “Well done!” smiled the Great Oracle, his eyes suddenly having some more life in them. “I thought for sure your time there would’ve been wasted.”

  “Thanks for the confidence,” I said dryly. “An orc that was leading the Greeners had Ulrich’s tattoo right in the middle of his forehead. It must’ve been a planned attack. Your vision of the future that didn’t include the Queen was probably because Ulrich took her out before the upcoming war even started.”

  “Yes, that is certainly a possibility,” nodded the Great Oracle. “I’m glad you were able to convince the Queen. Yaerna is going to need all the help it can get over the coming weeks. You and your friends have done the world a gre
at service by notifying the territories of the war, even if they haven’t entirely believed you.”

  “Great,” I shrugged, looking around. “Not to be rude, but I still don’t see why you brought me here. We could’ve talked about this stuff tomorrow.”

  “I’ll let you get back soon, don’t worry,” smiled the Great Oracle. “There are a few things you should know first. For example, the Second Dragon War has already begun.”

  “It has?” I said, standing up a bit straighter. I knew it would be starting any day now, but hearing the Great Oracle say it made it seem real for the first time.

  “Much of Gorlan has already turned into a war zone,” nodded the Great Oracle. “I’m afraid most of the resistance there won’t last long, and already many of the people have surrendered to the Dar’Ka.”

  “That was to be expected, right?” I sighed. Too bad more goblins and orcs weren’t like Dhot. I’d never understand why those races were so susceptible to working for the black and reds. Maybe if the other races treated them with more respect, they’d be more likely to work with us rather than against us.

  “Unfortunately,” said the Great Oracle quietly, taking a few steps back.

  “I’ll let the others know and we can head out there immediately,” I said. “We could-”

  “It’s too late, Reimar,” said the Great Oracle softly.

  “Too late?” I asked, tilting my head. “What do you mean?”

  The glass behind me shattered and a gust of wind filled the room, sending books, papers, and quills scattering all about. I turned back to see what had happened, and froze in fright.

  A creature several feet taller than me stood by the broken window, pieces of glass littered on the floor around him. The beast’s wings stretched out, then rested in a dormant state as he took a few steps closer. The moonlight reflected off of his black scales, occasionally catching on the razor sharp claws of his hands and feet.